By grouping elements in a design composition together into compositional areas, the message of what we are looking at becomes simplified enough to make it easier to grasp the essence of the product. It is human nature to cognitively simplify what we are seeing when we perceive complex visual components that are grouped together, so that, in this case, we recognize the object as a pitcher. You have a simplified perception of the parts that come together as a single object – this is an example of the Gestalt principle of closure, where we perceive these elements as a complete and familiar thing. For example, when you see a handle, a spout, an interior volume, and a flat bottom, your cognitive processes register that set of elements as a vessel for containing and pouring liquid, like a pitcher or a measuring cup. Gestalt Principles provide visual guidelines that help designers and artists create understandable, communicative, and rich compositions.ĭesigners apply these visual guidelines in their formal compositions to improve the perceived aesthetics, functionality, and user-friendliness of a product. Since then designers have been referring to Gestalt principles or Guidelines to organize elements by grouping similar elements, recognizing patterns, and simplifying complex images. The artists and designers at the Bauhaus, an experimental early twentieth century German art school, explored these principles in their teaching and personal projects. The word gestalt means “something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). How then, do we design complex compositions that make it easy for the user to visually understand how to use the product and its parts?įor guidance, we turn to the Gestalt principles of perceptual organization developed by psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler in the early twentieth century, to explore how we perceive each object around us as a unified whole. We not only design simple objects (with one main formal element) like a pencil sharpener, a comb, or a screwdriver but also products with a range of complex volumes that contain internal components and a variety of affordances like buttons and switches with specific functions. GESTALT PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION 2.4 Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
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